An Omaha family and the state of Nebraska are at odds over the deduction of $1,640 from their tax refund to pay for a mistake made by the state.

For a year, taxpayers helped the Dowtys put food on the table. Now the state has taken a big bite out of their tax refund check to repay the assistance.

"It wasn't my error,” says Annette Dowty. “I didn't lie on the food stamp application."

Annette reported being a full-time student not eligible for food stamps more than a year ago, but her caseworker counted her in the family's application. An administrative error, yet the state demanded the Dowtys repay $1,640 in public assistance.

Nebraska Health and Human Service approved monthly food stamp payments until the mistake was caught a year later.

“The federal government and their rules are very clear that no matter how that error occurs if it in fact results in an overpayment we have to take actions in order to collect that overpayment from the individual," says Todd Landry, director of Children and Family Services.

Administrators say the error their staff made is rare. Nebraska ranks second nationally in the fewest number of mistakes in the Food Stamp Program. In its letter to the Dowtys, Health and Human Services admits the agency failed to act on information month after month.

“The state should have swallowed it,” says Annette. “I shouldn't have to pay the state back for their error.”

“It's not that we didn't want to pay it back, we couldn't afford to," says Annette’s husband. Living paycheck to paycheck, the Dowtys say they had to ignore a Health and Human Services offer for a payment plan.

So as a last resort, the state took $1,640 out of their tax refund. About 52,000 Nebraska families receive food stamp assistance, which is now a debit card system. That adds up to nearly $11 million distributed across the state every month. Payment errors amount to less than 2 percent of that.